Losing too many perishable loads to variations in truck temperatures, Dot Foods Inc. sought a transparent solution to monitor its products in transit.

As demand for ever-faster shipping and delivery grows, distributors are eager to find ways to get products to customers in less time — while eliminating costly product damage and waste that erodes profitability. For cold chain suppliers, this means ensuring that perishable goods are consistently kept at appropriate temperatures while in transit. 

The freezer mounts of refrigerated trucks often experience variations in temperature, putting the safety of perishable loads at risk. Dot Foods Inc., North America's largest food industry redistributor, was using unreliable equipment to monitor transit temperatures, humidity and airflow, and looking for a better solution.

Dot, already working with Barcoding Inc., asked the supply chain technology company to help identify an intuitive and highly reliable tool for real-time transparency into trailer climate control. Dot delivers a wide variety of food products in less-than-truckload quantities each week to distributors across the U.S. The company would implement the solution at its greenfield distribution center in Delaware, after a trial at another facility. 

Barcoding recommended a GPS refrigerated trailer monitoring system by Honeywell International Inc. The system integrates with broader fleet management, regulating and maintaining ideal temperatures in refrigerated trailers via wireless sensors. The tool records temperatures throughout the course of the route, and alerts the carrier and driver in real time when the climate fluctuates above or below set thresholds. 

Customized software sends Dot location and climate data at regular intervals, and teams can access the information 24/7 on computers and mobile devices. Meanwhile, Barcoding generates insights from the data.

“Our greenfield project was a success in large part because of the monitoring technology Barcoding recommended and set up,” says Troy Schenk, director of automation at Dot. “We’re seeing a real boost in productivity because our people aren’t slowed down by equipment that’s cumbersome and unreliable.” 

“Having seen the accuracy and reliability, we’re now eager to roll this out to more of our facilities,” he said. 

The new solution also helps Dot comply with food safety regulations and cold chain transport codes — such as the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) — and avoid any associated fines. Plus:

• Spoiled cargo has decreased, cutting waste and resulting in fewer rejected loads. 
• Driver downtime and costly idling have dropped with the disappearance of manual temperature checks.
• Setpoint temperature consistency has streamlined handoffs and minimized time spent at loading docks — improving utilization and turn times.